AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL INFORMATICS ASSOCIATION

Transcription

1 AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL INFORMATICS ASSOCIATION A C N National Secretariat: P O Box 89, Scarborough 6019, Australia. Tel. (619) Fax (619) Your ref. Dr. Patrick Nugawela National President 126 Coolibah Drive Greenwood 6024 W Australia Dr. Dianiurid Uaconaill Biochemistry Laboratory Mater Hospital Dublin 7 REPUBLIC OF IRELAND Dear Dr. Uaconaill, At the IMIA AGM in Dresden in 1994, some issues arose which we undertook to respond to - as Australia's IMIA representative at the time. Enclosed, please find the relevant material pertaining to these issues. The IMIA Board and Executive have been copied with these letters as well. Please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned for further information or queries, if any. Yours sincerely, AMIA. NATIONAL HEALTHCARE COMMITTEE OF THE AUSTRALIAN COMPUTER SOCIETY

2 AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL INFORMATICS ASSOCIATION A C N National Secretariat: P O Box 89, Scarborough 6019, Australia. Tel. (619) Fax (619) Your ref. Dr. Patrick Nugawela National President 126 Coolibah Drive Greenwood 6024 W Australia Prof. M. Ball President International Medical Informatics Association Information Services University of Maryland at Baltimore 100 North Greene St., Room 511 Baltimore, MD U.S.A. 4th January 1995 Dear Professor Ball, I refer to the IMIA General Assembly (GA) meeting in Dresden in September confirm that I attended the meeting as the IMIA Representative for Australia, and full member of the IMIA General Assembly. This letter confirms matters pertaining to agenda item #4.1 ("MEMBERSHIP - Australian membership"). Dr. Hannah briefed the GA on some matters pertaining to Australian representation at IMIA. Dr. Hannah recommended to the GA that the Health Informatics Society of Australia Inc. (HISA) replace the Australian Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) as the Australian delegate at IMIA. The reason, as announced by Dr. Hannah to the GA, was that HISA was said to be more representative than AMIA because it had a number of member organisations in Australia. Dr. Hannah advised that these were: Health Informatics Association of New South Wales Australian Health Informatics Assn. (South Australia) Australian Health Informatics Assn. (Queensland) Health Informatics Society of Australia (Australian Capital Territory) Health Informatics Society of Australia (Victoria) North Coast Nursing Informatics Group. Dr. Nugawela (the undersigned) formally advised the GA that the above was incorrect. These entities had merely "agreed in principle to associate with the Health Informatics Society of Australia." None of these entities had formalised the association with HISA. In support of this, Dr. Nugawela tabled the letter from HISA dated 10th September 1994 with the Chair (President Ball), who formally accepted the document. Dr. Nugawela further indicated that HISA represented "only 10 individual members" in Australia and overseas. In support of this, Dr. Nugawela tabled the letter from HISA dated 13th September 1994 with the Chair (President Ball) who formally accepted the document. No comment was made by any Board member on the documents tabled nor were they read to the floor. These documents are enclosed. AMIA NATIONAL HEALTH-CARE COMMITTEE OF THE AUSTRALIAN COMPUTER SOCIETY

3 Dr. P Nugawela - Prof. M. Bali [4 Jan 95] Page 2 Based on the above information, Dr. Nugawela advised the GA that HISA did not meet the requirements under the IMIA Constitution in preference to AMIA to represent Australia as a national member at the time of the vote (Article 2.1, IMIA Constitution). As President and Chair, Professor Ball did not call upon the HISA representative (Dr. B. Cesnik) or Dr. Hannah to respond to the letters tabled by Dr. Nugawela. Dr. Nugawela had advised the meeting earlier that the IMIA Board had erred in recommending to the GA at the 1993 IMIA AGM that the question of admission of a national member for Australia be ceded to the Board. This was in contravention of the IMIA Constitution and was brought to the attention of the IMIA Board early in The Board recognised this and then referred the matter back to the IMIA GA at this Dresden meeting. IMIA Board members would have copies of that correspondence. Professor Ball then re-affirmed the recommendation of the IMIA Board to the General Assembly that HISA replace AMIA as Australia's representative. At the vote, all members of the IMIA Board entitled to vote (including numerous proxies held by some Board members) voted for the motion. HISA was elected the new member organisation for Australia. Dr. Cesnik, the HISA delegate at the meeting, assumed the position of IMIA Representative for Australia. Dr. Nugawela abstained from the vote. We invite your comment on this letter. By way of circulation of copies of this letter, we also invite comment from IMIA Board members. We should mention finally that this letter does not seek to re-open any matters for discussion which have already been ratified. It seeks to represent a true record of that part of the IMIA GA meeting in Dresden. A transcript of that part of the meeting proceedings is available upon request. We wish you the best for Yours sincerely, Enclosures Letter from HISA 10th Sept Letter from HISA 13th Sept pc IMIA Board Members AMIA NATIONAL HEALTHCARE COMMITTEE OF THE AUSTRAUAN COMPUTER SOCIETY

4 Dr. Patrick Nugawela 126 cooiibah Drive Greenwood 6024 AUSTRALIA Tel. (09) Fax. (09) Dr. K. C. Lun Chairman, Organising Committee Asia-Pacific Association for Medical Informatics (APAMI) CTMAPte. Ltd. 425A Race Course Rd. Singapore th January 1995 Dear Dr. Lun, I refer to your comment to the IMIA General Assembly at Dresden in September 1994 about your lack of recollection of your attendance at the inaugural meeting of the Asia- Pacific Association for Medical Informatics (APAMI) in Singapore in October At Dresden, the chairman of the IMIA meeting, Professor Rienhoff, affirmed that you had intended to make an observation only in relation to material I distributed at the meeting and, presumably, it has been recorded as such in the minutes. This letter fulfils my promise to you at the GA meeting to provide you with further details in due course. I have since researched the material and I am very pleased to refresh your memory. By way of historical review, I note that I met with IMIA officials in Singapore in 1988 to discuss further our proposals to form a regional association of medical informatics. At a conference we organised in Singapore in 1988, we proposed to hold an inaugural meeting of the Asia-Pacific Association of Medical Informatics (APAMI). We consulted with the IMIA Board and Professor Kaihara. In July 1988, we circulated a letter to all the Asia- Pacific nations 1 (including Singapore) after consultation with Professor Kaihara. 2 You were privy to these matters because we had written to you inviting Singapore to participate in the conference as well as in the APAMI. 3 We note the enthusiasm expressed by you and your colleagues in the APAMI then. 4 3 You attended the APAMI meeting in Singapore on 4th October 1988 in place of Professor P K Wong who had a prior engagement. Please look at the extract of the membership roll written in your own hand. 6 Your name appears after that of Mr. Ouyang, who sat next to you. 1 Letter P. Nugawela to Professor Kaihara (4th July 1988). 2 Letter Professor Kaihara to P Nugawela (5th July 1988). 3 Letter P Nugawela to K C Lun (12th July 1988). 4 Letter K C Lun to P Nugawela (2nd April 1988). 5 AGM of Singapore Association for Informatics in Medicine (29th July 1988). 6 Extract of attendance roll at APAMI meeting.

5 V Dr. Patrick Nugawela [5/01/95] Page 2 The proceedings of the meeting were forwarded to you on 16th September We also wrote you (and all those who attended the inaugural Singapore meeting) advising the outcome of the meeting. 8 We received no comment from you then or since. Mr. Ouyang (People's Republic of China) and I each kept IMIA informed of the APAMI meetings From 1990 on, we were privy to some information on the continuing evolution of the regional association. Australia was not represented on the elected executive of the association. I refer you to subsequent correspondence (enclosed) which would be self explanatory. We are pleased to note the continued development of the APAMI after the respite. It will, no doubt, emerge as a strong binding force in the Asia-Pacific region. We are confident that it will play a major role globally as well. Our other intention in writing this letter is to set the historical facts permanently in place for the record. Best wishes for Yours sincerely, pc IMIA National Members MIA Board LIST OF ENCLOSURES On order of mention) Letter & enclosure P Nugawela to Prof. Kaihara (4 Jul 88) Letter Prof. Kaihara to P Nugawela (5 Jul 88) Letter P Nugawela to K C Lun (12 Jul 88) Letter K C Lun to P Nugawela (2 Apr 1988) Extract minutes of AGM of Singapore's Association for Informatics In Medicine (29 Jul 88) Extract attendance register Inaugural Meeting of Asia Pacific Association of Medical Informatics Singapore (4 Oct 88) Note accompanying minutes of APAMI meeting (sent on 16 Sep 89) Form letter to delegates at APAMI meeting: copy of letter to Prof. Kaihara as Japan's rep. (6 Sep 89)\ Folio: IMIA Board & AGM Discussion Documents (Aug 90). Contains (a) Letter P Nugawela to Prof. Willems (8 Jun 90), (b) Prof. Willems to P Nugawela (18 Jun 90), (c) APAMI Meeting agenda & minutes (Oct. 88) Extract Proceedings of First Pan-Pacific Business & Medical Computing Conference. Contains: (a) Conference Programme for 5th Oct 1988, (b) Message from Prof. Kaihara (IMIA President), (c) Conference address by Singapore Acting Minister for Health, Mr. Yeo Cheow long. Letter P Nugawela to Prof. Kaihara (27 Sep 89) Letter P Nugawela to Prof. Kaihara (11 Oct 89) Letter O Zhineng to Prof. Willems (11 Apr 90) - with enclosure: APAMI Meeting Singapore (11 Dec 89) Letter Prof. Kaihara to Ouyang Zhineng, K C Lun, A Tang, Prof. J Willems, P Nugawela (12 Sep 90) Letter P Nugawela to Prof. Kaihara (20 Sep 90) 7 Note accompanying APAMI inaugural meeting minutes: to K C Lun (16th Sept. 1989). 8 Form letter to APAMI delegates: copy of letter to Prof. Kaihara as delegate for Japan (6th Sept. 1989). 9 Folio of IMIA Board & AGM Documents (August 1990). 10 Letter Mr. Ouyang to Prof. Willems, IMIA President (11th April 1990).

6 SEA MAIL PLEASE AFFIX STAMP HERE Surface Mail Australia Diarmuid UaConaill Biochemistry Laboratory Mater Hospital Dublin 7, Republic of Ireland,